The Flames flickered violentlyAs the wind and the rain beat upon them They danced like David dancedMajestically, Mesmorizingly, MagicallyThe roaring flames flickered and flowed ever constant but never the sameLike the waves of the sea, predictable yet uncontrollableDancing upon the rocks searching, licking at anything it may consume

The Flames, they are jealousThey desire to consume everything, wanting all things for themselvesThe Flames, they consume, they destroysingeing, burning and roaring.They devour, they overtake and consume all All who will let them

The Flames they warm, they consoleThey change, they createThey love…There is life within the flamesI am different here,Lighter–cleaner

In the Flames, I feel lovedThe way I need to be lovedIn the Flames I feel like meI feel different in the FlamesI am purged in the Flames

As I look in these Flames I see secretsThe Flames, they teach meThese Flames are ETERNALIn them is life everlasting

I heard an interesting stat a while back. In true game winning scenarios. King James shoots the ball at less than 14% lifetime. in this context a game winner would be defined as less than 24 seconds left on the clock, down by 2 or less, with a made shot winning the game or forcing over time. Where as Melo’s numbers in the same category are around 50% from the field. Upon researching it more on 82games.com I found that Lebron and Kobe’s percentage’s are similar Kobe has taken far more attempts. the numbers show 4 out of 19 for King James where as Kobe’s numbers come in at 7 for 32. Both shooting roughly 21 % where as Melo is shooting in the 60% range. Lebron has 2 turnovers to Kobe’s one. And while they both have attempted nine free throws Kobe made eight of those attempts where as Lebron has only made five. While copy is a better percentage shooter by hundredths of a percent. It seems that when you factor all of the numbers in, Lebron simply is not as reliable of a last seconf choice the Kobe over the long term. In the end the missed free throw attempts are what really kills Bron Bron

A few months ago I wrote a posting expressing why Lebron James is overrated, and just possibly a creation of David Stern in a laboratory. James has always had a bit of a mulligan considering the fact that often times he never really had a that good of a squad to help him. However, this year, especially after the trade deadline Lebron has what can be considered an all time squad. Shaq is not really any worse than when he won a ring with Wade, and in fact has played very well this year. A healthy Mo Williams is an all star caliber lead guard. J.J Hickson is an athletic and developing power forward. Then when you come either with Anthony Parker or Delonte West at the off guard position, you have to ask, if Lebron fails to to win a ring or even get to the finals this year will he bear the same level of blame for said failure that a player like Kobe would. Would he be blamed as much as he is praised for his successes. There is not a player in the Cavs rotation who is not All Star quality. After the starters coming of the bench you have the likes of Antwan Jamison and Anderson Varejao. Varejao is one of the best energy guys of our generation. And Jamison is one of the best swing guys we have seen a very long time. Lebron has one of the best supporting casts in the league.

If Lebron can’t get to the finals this year with the squad he has now, will he still be considered one of the greatest in the game. Wade got a ring with this same incarnation of Shaq that Lebron has and Lebron has better role players. He missed 4 free throws again today. If you replace Lebron with Kobe, Wade or Melo and the Cavs are a sure fire championship team. We will have to see about Lebron.

For all of the improvement that the Cavs have done to their roster they have been unable to get over the top in the past. Many have said it is because of the lack of help for the King. If the Cavs fail to win a title this year with a roster much better than Jordan ever had. will we still consider Lebron a legitimate MVP candidate? Will he still be considered one of the greatest of all time?

Today we did a lot of amazing things. I was able to collect a period shard of pottery, picked some stones out of the same stream that David did and stood in the town where the Prophet Micah was born. Got some excellent video’s and pics. But I have to say, the highlight of the day was when we got to the hotel on the Mediterranean and I went and play in the sea as well as walked along the beach. Talk about dreams coming true. This is a truly amazing and fantastic country. I have never seen so much history, culture and meaning packed into one place before. It is truly awesome, sharing this experience with so many wonderful Christians. I am truly humbled and blessed by how good God has been. But not only that, but the amazing blessing that all of the people have been. A real encouragement. Tonight after dinner and some heated doctrinal discussions, a group of us went and walked along the beach and talked about Jesus under star filled skies. It was a truly humbling experience. To think that God took the time to create all of this wonder with all of the diverse wildlife. All of the plants, animals, different types of rocks and weather systems. And yet he spent an entire day creating us and giving us life.Not only that, but that he has spent thousands of years, helping us, aiding and guiding us…sh owing us how to get it right. It is truly amazing how great our God is.

I arrived in Israel earlier today, it was nice and warn, and generally pleasant. We went to a biblical nature preserve, walked around, crushed wild oregano and sampled date honey. By the way it was so good. I have not even been here an entire day, and I am already in love with this place. The people are delightful, the countryside is beautiful, and you can feel the presence of God pretty much everywhere you go. I am really looking forward to tomorrow, we will be in the Negev. I will defiantly be coming back to Israel again. I will have some updates from my journal, and some of my thoughts before we head out in the morning. I will try and keep the posts coming fairly regularly, And will have a proper entry when I get back to the US.

To all of my friends, I will be in Israel for the next couple of weeks. And therefore not on the Internet for most of that time. I will have my netbook with me and will be blogging my trip and will be updating my blog and facebook from the road as much as I can. I look forward to as much revelation as God can fit in my life. And I really look forward to sharing that with you. I will have pictures and some video of the trip available on my return home. I can’t wait to go and share everything I will have learned with you all.

From a very early age, I marched to my own rhythm. I was always a rebel, and wanted to do things my own way. As got older, I started to show some natural leadership ability in various areas. As these traits would manifest in different ways I would try and implement what I could see needed to change or be done to fix a certain situation. At seventeen I became a Christian in a very radical way that I wont detail here. It of course goes without saying that I brought these struggles with me, and have dealt with varying levels of drama over the years when trying to exert my influence over a situation. That being said all the drama has not gone for not. Out of the pain that I have gone through at various stages of my life I have learned many valuable lessons. As I have grown in the Lord I have come to a greater understanding of what leadership is all about. Frequently leadership is a thing of pain, responsibility, sorrow, and hard decisions. Rather than glamorous moments of triumph and victory. In fact most of my greatest victories in life have rushed by me like a billboard on the highway of life. These victories are clearly signposted on my path, however when traveling at the speed of life one frequently misses them and only notices these milestones when retracing the journey at a later date. These battles are not fought with fists or guns like some Hollywood action movie. But much to the contrary of our image of strength in the west looks like, God’s image of strength is almost diametrically opposed to the way we think in the 21st century(or the 20th or 19 centuries for that matter). God’s idea of leadership is almost eastern in it’s sensibility, or at the very least many non-Christian philosophers have borrowed from this idea over the years.

God in both the Old and New Testaments, calls us to live a life of peaceful and quite submission. The Bible teaches us that we are created in God’s image, and we see reinforced time and again through the lives of the biblical characters the plan that God has for our lives. Especially in reference to leadership and discipleship. The model God requires for leadership is outlined in the qualifications for ministry addressed to Timothy

The model we see is one of servant leadership without a doubt, but also that of leadership by example. Gods model for leadership is to lead the way he would. It has been said that the Holy Spirit is a gentleman. That God never forces himself on anyone. You could say it is Christians extending themselves where God has not asked them to go. Reaching into peoples lives that have not been prepared for the message we are trying to deliver, that are the ones forcing themselves on people. This approach to both leadership, discipleship and evangelism is basically Christian date rape. To run with this metaphor, we reach out to people, trying to get them to give in and give there heart over to God before they are ready. Forcing them into a false sense of intimacy before they are ready to do so. Guilting them in baring themselves at an inappropriate time. What we need to understand about God in all aspects of our lives as Christians, is that we are ambassadors of Christ and our Heavenly kingdom, and as such are not prosecutable by the law of the land we are in. Just like an foreign ambassador would have diplomatic immunity from the laws of the United States. We have been redeemed from the curse of the law, and are no longer under it’s jurisdiction as it were. This however is not a license by any means to get mentally irregular and start treating people any way we chose. Because just like our aforementioned diplomat. Our home country can send someone knew to cover our post and we are left without purpose. For those who don’t believe that this is scriptural. Just go look up a man by the Name of Terah in the genealogy of Abram. and you will find that God can and will call someone else. We must remember the divine model and plan for how we are to conduct ourselves and conduct our business while in a realm that is not our own.

Gods plan is not forceful, or pushy but rather a leadership of kindness, gentility-acting in a peaceful and loving spirit. In scripture there are many examples of this. But we see two primary examples that bare special attention. The story of Joseph starts in Genesis 37 and for the next few chapters this young man of calling and destiny goes through more than most(and yet we think we have the market corned of suffering). Joseph was a leader at every stage of his life. He made the occasional mistake, like revealing his dream to the wrong people at the wrong time, and he paid dearly for it. Tragically, then as now-some the greatest pain in our lives will come at the hands of those who we love the most, and who are meant to love us and train us in the ways of God. However if we lead as Joseph did at every point along the journey with humility and a servants heart, and not by depending on our own strength. Leaning on the arm of the flesh-even when we know that our way is right. We must control ourselves as Joseph did, living lives worthy of what God has called us to, or at least to the best of our understanding of that calling at the time. Because even though we may swear to high Heaven that our way is right, the Bible says that there is a way that seems right to a man, but the in the end there is death. No matter the situation Joseph found himself in, he continued to move forward; honoring God the best way he knew how.

In the life of Joseph, we see a clear image of the coming Messiah, our Lord Jesus Christ Joseph’s brothers are representational of the 12 tribes of Israel. In fact they are more then images of them, they are them. Joseph and his brothers are the forefathers of the 12 tribes. They are where the 12 tribes begin. In the story of Joseph we see imagery being employed that points us to both Jesus’ death and resurrection and the regathering of Israel, and how all will eventually bow the knee in worship to our Lord.

In the same way that Joseph was never moved to the point of sin against his brothers, Jesus was not moved what others thought (he knew their thoughts), said did or attempted to do to him. He was instead motivated by what the Father had called him to do. Point of fact, Jesus did not have the reaction that mould expect him to, but instead just he opposite. He was moved with compassion for those we just did not get it. But not at the expense or delay of his mission.

Christ was manifested in the Earth for a specific purpose (and thus could not be side tracked, delayed or detoured), he was manifested on Earth in much the same way we are created. He was born of a woman, and raised by two parents. Parents that at one point or another probably did not understand him. There must have also been times when he did not really understand them. This sounds a lot like most people’s childhoods. All that being said, he was born for a purpose. A specific and singular purpose, as we are. Christ had to overcome any issue or hindrances that were placed in is way by family, friends and the hometown locals just as we do. When we accepted Christ into our lives, applying the label of Christian it became responsibility, our duty, our job to lead ourselves as our eternal example did. To lead others by our example, our example in applying spiritual discipline to our lives.

an adequate summarization of this concept can be taking from what Paul said about discipline, in paraphrase. We must train and beat ourselves into submission both body and mind. training ourselves like the runner or boxer ever pressing forward reaching towards the goal. Because it is not how we start, but how we finish.

1. ATO ( Assist to Turnover ratio) even if you take his career high in assist and low in turnovers his ATO is still 2.6 his actual lifetime number is 2.03 that is way to low. not to mention the fact that in last years playoffs Lebron had the 6 or more turn overs several times. And before you say he has the ball in his hand a lot and so on, having 6 or more turnovers a game in the playoffs is just unacceptable. The fact is that a lot of prime time ball handlers have high ato, but they actually make their team mates better. When it has counted Lebron has not put his team in the best position to win. He routinely passes up the big shots and does not put his teammates in repetitive positions to be successful. I can handle a higher ato if you assist the ball at a high number. Deron Williams assists at an 8.7 lifetime number, Chris Paul’s number are 9.9. These type of assit numbers indicate a much higher rate of putting teammates in a position score. Lebron’s lifetime number is 6.7. His overall assists and ATO is not acceptable for a “all time great” Magic assisted at 11.9 per game and Stockton at 10.5 per game.

2. Bron is a lifetime low 70 % free throw shooter (73.8% to be exact) with one season where he shot 69.8 %. Again this number is far to low. You cant be a prime time perimeter player and not make 80% or better from the line.

3. He is an overrated defender. For the proclaimed king of the chase down block and for being as big as he is Bron averages only 0.9 blocks for his career, with his highest total being 1.1.(Which he accomplished twice) Lebron is also noted as a great on ball defender and a good passing lane guy. However, his lifetime steals number is 1.8 steals a game with a high of 2.2 in his sophomore season. He has not come close to that since. as a matter of comparison Dwade’s lifetime numbers in these categories 1.8 steals per game with a career high of 2.2 teals per game. (Wade has been 0ver 2 three times) In blocks per game, Wade has a career average of 1.0 with a high of 1.3 blocks per game with all but two seasons above 1 block per game.(his rokie year and his injury shortened year) Keep in mind that Wade is 4 inches shorter then Lebron and plays at the guard spot and is frequently not in defensive position near the rim.

It’s not that Lebron is not a great player. Because he is, but Lebron is just woefully inconsistent. He can go off fo 55 with a triple double one night and then not break 25 the next. Until he fixes his averages in the above categories and becomes a more consistent leader He should not be considered A) an all time great, or B) a perenial MVP candidate when there are atleas a dozen other viable candidates. If Lebron did not come in to the league with all of the hype he did, would he be considered the great all time player that he is, ith the numbers that he has?